Lughnasadh

(/Loo-nus-uh/ is how the booklet says to pronounce it)

This is the first festival/celebration/ritual booklet I've gotten. It's the one I was planning to join the local group for. Instead, I will be making my own version. 

Lughnasadh is one of the cross-quarter days, also known as the Celtic Fire Festivals. The booklet starts with a brief description of the focus, and the Irish mythology that is the origin of the festival. 

p. 2

Lughnasadh marks the time of the beginning of harvesting which is then completed by... the Autumnal Equinox. It is a time of joy, but also a time to begin preparing for the Autumn. It is now that we begin to reap what we have sown, and it is now that we understand the wisdom of careful preparation, and of the sowing of good seeds in our lives and the lives of others.

Joy of the harvest... Reaping what we've sown (remind you of a bible passage?)... 

p. 6

In the Christian era, the festival on August 1st became Lammas.

According to Wikipedia, "Lammas, also known as Loaf Mass Day, is a Christian holiday celebrated in some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere on 1 August. The name originates from the word "loaf" in reference to bread and "Mass" in reference to the Eucharist." I had no idea this holiday existed, although my Catholic in-laws likely do. An example of Christians changing a "pagan" holiday into a Christian one.

p. 7

Since Lughnasadh is a time of the beginning of the harvest and an awareness that Summer will not last for ever, you may like to spend some time becoming aware of the fact that this represents a turning point in the year - a point of culmination when you begin to reap the fruits of your actions as you move into the six week harvest period between now and (Autumnal equinox). Here we come to know the paradoxical nature of sacrifice: that in letting go, we receive - that the harvest is both a time of death, but also a time of reaping of rewards, of achievement. Sacrifice, understood in this way, is seen as a letting go or giving up of something in order to move to a higher, deeper, more creative level... Lughnasadh becomes a Festival of Transformation.

As an educator, this is definitely a turning point in the year. Staff starts the school year here on or right after August 1st. This year I am reaping the fruits of multiple job applications that have been sent out the last few months. "In letting go, we receive." This has definitely been true in my life! What can I "sacrifice" to move to a "higher, deeper, more creative level" at this point in my life? Of course the phoenix in me loves the wording of Festival of Transformation! 😀

p. 7

Associations to Lughnasadh

Harvest, Completion, Achievement, Reaping, Transformation, Contentment, Letting Go

Gold, Orange, Red-Brown, Purple

Wheat, Bread

The rest of the book is the solo and group rituals. In reading through them yesterday, I found elements of both that resonate with me. Today is Monday. I plan to work this week on combining both rituals into something that is meaningful to me. 

This is my last post of the day. Next time, I will start journaling my thoughts on the first gwersi, and its correlation to what we're studying in small group at church.

Feeling accomplished,

LilacPhoenixCMB 💜